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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. 0. OAGCIALUPI.

CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM. No. 500,704. Patented July 4, 1893.

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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. 0. OAGOIALUPI. 0L00K STRIKING MBGHANISM.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3.

E. 0. GAGGIALUPI. CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM.

Patented July 4, 1893.

ligfi. MHHHHHHK (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

E. 0. CAOOIALUPI.

OLOGK STRIKING MECHANISM. No. 500,704. Patented July 4, 1893.

(No Model.) 5 .Sheets'-Sheeti 5.

- E. O. GAGOIALUPI.

CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM.

Inventor Patented July 4,- 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

EPIMAOO OLIVIERI OAOCIALUPI, OF SAN SEVERINO, ITALY, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF TO ALFREDO ANGELT, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

CLOCK STRIKING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 500,704, dated July 4,1893.

Application filed January 4, 1893. Serial No. 457,278. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EPIMACO OLIVIERI CA0- OIALUPI, a subject of the Kingof Italy, residing at San Severino, Italy, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Striking Mech- 'anism for Clocks, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to striking mechanism for clocks.

Hitherto the striking mechanism of a clock has generally beensubstantially distinct from the other parts thereof and operated by aseparate spring or weight and train of wheels.

The object of this invention is to provide striking mechanism which canbe worked from the wheels of the clock direct without the interventionof a special spring or weight and for this purpose a graduated series ofpins is fixed to a special wheel driven by the clock mechanism or to oneof the wheels of the clock mechanism itself, the said pins beingdesigned to act upon a suitable striking lever which is moved in orderto place it in the path of one or more of the graduated series of pins,according to the hour to be struck, by means of a cam. In cases wherethe striking mechanism is to strike the quarters as well as the hours asecond set of graduated pins is employed designed to operate upon aseparate striking lever which is also moved to place it in the path ofone or more of the said pins by means of a cam.

To enable the said invention to be fully understood it shall bedescribed by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1is a front elevation of ordinary spring clock mechanism having theimproved striking mechanism applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a sectionalplan. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 83 Fig. 2. Figs. 4 to 9 are viewsillustrating the construction of details. Fig. 10 is a view of part ofthe striking mechanism; and Fig. 11 is a side view of the same, the saidview also showing in section the plate carrying the several parts. Fig.12 is a view similar to Fig. 10 illustrating the operation of thestriking mechanism. Figs. 13 and 14 are an elevation and a sectionalplan of a clock mechanism having a slightly modified form of strikingmechanism applied thereto.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in'all thefigures.

a, a are the front and back plates carrying the mechanism, and b is thespring barrel, 1) the first arbor carrying the minute hand, and b thesleeve mounted upon the arbor b and carrying the hour hand.

0 is the second arbor driven by the wheel 0 upon the arbor b andcarrying the wheel 0 which transmits motion to the third arbor d.

e is the special arbor carrying the striking wheelf, the said arborbeing geared to the wheel 0 upon the second arbor of the clock. Thestriking wheel f is not fixed to the arbor 6 but is loose thereon andprovided withapawl f acted upon by a springf and adapted to engagewithand be disengaged from aratchet wheel fixed upon the said arbor e (asshown in Figs. 4 and 5 which are an elevation and section of the saidstriking and ratchet wheels) in such a manner that, when the pawl is inengagement with the ratchet wheel, the striking wheel will rotate withthe arbor, while, when the pawl is out of engagement with the saidratchet wheel, the striking wheel will remain stationary, the arbor andratchet wheel only rotating.

Upon the striking wheelf is fixed on one side a graduated series oftwelve pins g, g, as shown in Figs. 4: and 5 and in Fig. 6 which is adevelopment of the said wheel, the said pins being designed to act upona lever g connected with a hammer g for striking the hour bell or gongand pivotally mounted on an arbor 9 Fig. '7, which figure represents apartial side view of the clock. It the clock is to strike the quarters(except at the hour) also three pins h, corresponding to the threequarters are fixed upon the other side of the said striking wheel, butif it is also desired to strike the quarter at the hour four pins areemployed. These quarter hour pins act upon a lever 7L for operating ahammer 71 striking a bell or gong which has preferably a different tonefrom the hour bell or gong to enable the hour and quarter bells or gongsto be readily distinguished, the said lever and hammer h, 7L2 beingpivotally mounted upon the arbor 7L3, Fig. 7. The lever g of thehour-hammer g is shifted from time to time, so that it will be engagedby one, two, three or more of the graduated series of pins g,g accordingto the hour to be struck, by a graduated or stepped cam 71, mounted uponthe sleeve b carrying the hour-hand and preferably driven therewith sothat it makes one revolution in twelve hours. The said cam, which actsupon a bar 2" secured to the arbor g carrying the lever and hammer g, gagainst which lever the graduated pins 9, g operate, is provided with aseries of twelve steps as shown in Fig. 8 which is a development of thesaid cam, the said steps corresponding respectively to the twelve pinsg, g. The lever it operated by the pins 72, h for striking the quartersis moved to engage the said pins by a graduated cam j, secured to theminute arbor Z), through the medium of a barj',the said cam which isshown developed in Fig. 9 having three steps corresponding to the threepins h, h; the bars i',j are caused to bear against their respectivecams b'y springs 2 ,3 mounted respectively on the arbors g 72?.

With the described arrangement it will be understood that assuming it tobe one oclock and the cam i to be so fixed upon the sleeve 1) of thehour-hand that the arm 2" is upon the lowest step of the said cam, thelever g of the hammer g will be so far away from the wheelfthat only thelongest pin g will strike the said lever and thereby chime the hourduring the rotation of the wheel f. At two oclock the arm 1" will restupon the next step of the cam iso that two of the pins g will strike thelever g and so on until when twelve oclock is reached the highest stepof the cami will be against the arm i so that all of the twelve pins g,Q will act upon the lever g to move the hammer and strike the bell. Theoperation of the camjis similar to that of the cam 5 except that whenthe armj is upon the lowest step of the said cam j none of the pins h, hstrike the arm h, this being the position when the minute hand indicatesthe hour. When the said cam j has moved so that the arm j is upon thesecond step, one pin h strikes the lever h and thereby chimes the firstquarter, when upon the third step two pins strike and when upon thefourth step the three pins strike. If the quarters are to be struck atthe hours, it is obvious that four pins h are used, the longest strikingwhen the arm 9" is upon the lowest step of the cam j.

In order that the pawl f through the medium of which motion is impartedto the striking wheelfshall be held out of engagement with its ratchetwheel 6 except at such times as the clock is to strike, a pin is fixedto the said pawl, which pin is designed normally to rest in a notch 70in a lug 70 formed upon a weighted lever 70 pivoted at 7& as shownclearly in Figs. 10 and 11, the said weighted lever serving normally toretain the pawl out of engagement with ratchet wheel 6'. To cause thedisengagement of this pin upon the pawl from the notch in the lug theweighted lever k is arranged to be moved to release the said pin 7;,thereby allowing the pawl to engage with its ratchet wheel. Thismovement of the said weighted lever is effected automatically by theclock by the following means.

To the front plate a of the framing of the clock a lever Z(termed thedisengaging lever) is pivoted at Z, the said lever carrying a pin Zbearing againstthe underside of the weighted lever 70 A second lever01?. acted upon by a spring m and termed the spring-lever is alsopivoted to the plate a at m To the springlever is pivoted a third levern carrying at one end a weight n and termed the lifting lever. Thelifting lever n carries a pin a which, when the striking mechanism issilent, rests in a notch 12 in the disengaging lever l, the latter beingin such aposition as to allow the weighted lever k to have its notchedlug k in engagement with the pin it of the pawl f of the striking wheelfso that the said pawl is held out of engagement with the ratchet wheel(2.

Upon the arbor b carrying the minute wheel is arranged a d sk 0 havingupon it four pins 0', o placed at equal distances apart; one of whichpins, prior to the striking at each quarter of an hour, commences to actupon the lifting lever 97. to lift the pin n thereon upward in the notchn in the disengaging lever Z, then to act upon the end of an arm 1) ofthe spring-lever m to move the same backward against the pressure of itsspring m thereby at the same time moving the lifting lever a so that thepin 11 carried thereby is drawn out of the notch n in the disengaginglever Z and then to lower the lever n. By the time that the striking isto take place, the operating pin 0 upon the disk 0 has moved so far asto become disengaged from the arm 13 upon the spring-lever m, wherebythe said spring-lever is free to move forward again under the impulse ofits spring at the same time pushing forward the lifting lever a so thatthe pin n strikes against the side of the disengaging lever Z just belowthe notch a as shown in Fig. 12 (which is a view similar to Fig. 10 butshowing the parts in different positions), thereby oscillating the saidlever and moving the weighted lever 7& by means of the pin l to causethe n otched lug 7;? carried thereby to disengage from the pin 7t uponthe pawl f, when the said pawl under the action of its spring engageswith the ratchet wheel and thereby causes the rotation of the strikingwheel f. As the rotation of the disk 0 continues the next following pin0 thereon to that which previously lifted the lever n impinges againstthe under side of the said lever and lifts it to allow the lever Z underthe action of the weighted lever 7.3 to move from the position shown infull lines in Fig. 12 to that shown in dotted lines, the said weightedlever k being thereby allowed to move into position to allow the pin 70of the pawl f to engage in the notch and be thereby lifted to disengagethe said pawl from the ratchet wheel 6.

In order that after the striking is completed the pin 70 shall properlyenter the notch 70, a curved plate or projection q is formed or fixedupon the front of the weighted lever 70 which plate or projection isdesigned to be acted upon by the longest quarter striking pin it and bedepressed so as to move the weighted lever to allow the pin 70 to passto a position immediately over the notched lug 70 when it is thenreleased so that the said lug can rise to engage with and lift the pin.

To cause the clock to repeat at any time when desired a hand-lever r isprovided, which lever is adapted when moved to the position indicated bythe dotted lines r in Fig. 10 to operate against a pin r on thedisengaging lever Z so as to move the latter independently of the springand lifting levers and cause the weighted lever 70" to disengage thenotched lug 10 from the pin 7;; and for entirely silencing the strikingmechanism the said handlever is arranged to act (when moved to theposition indicated by the dotted lines a, Fig. 10) upon a pin r onthelifting lever nso that the latter pushes back the lever m against thepressure of its spring m so far that the pin 01, thereon is out of thenotch n and the arm 19 thereon out of the path of the pins 0 of the disk0, the said levernalso locking the lever Z in its normal position bybearing against the under edge of a plate l formed on the top of thelever Z.

If it is desired that the striking mechanism shall strike the half hoursand hours only, only two pins 0' are placed upon the disk 0, and if thehours only are to be struck, only one pin 0 is used.

In cases Where the striking mechanism is only required for repeating,the striking wheel can be secured to its arbor so that it always rotatestherewith, a lever being simply provided for normally holding thehammers out of contact with the bells or gongs, in which case all theautomatic releasing mechanism hereinbefore described is dispensed with.Also in this case the special striking wheel hereinbefore described canbe dispensed with and the striking pins placed upon one of the ordinarywheels of the clock. This latter arrangement is shown in Figs. 13 and 14wherein the pins g, g and h, h are represented as being fixed to agear-wheel s (forming one of the wheels of the ordinary train of theclock) upon the third arbor d hereinbefore referred to. In thismodification the wheels is always rotating; in order therefore to holdthe lever-arms g, h out of contact with the pins g, h except when theclock is required to strike, a lever thaving a bar t is mounted upon theframing of the clock. The said lever i when moved into thepositionindicated by the dotted lines in Fig 13 moves the rods of the hammers 97&2 by its bar '6' so that the lever-arms g, It will be held out of thepath of the pins g, 7L when, however, the said lever is in the positionshown in full lines the lever-arms g, h will he in the path of the saidpins so that the clock will strike.

it, u are wire gongs upon which the hammers g 7L2 respectively strike.These gongs as hereinbefore stated are preferably of different tonesand, as shown in the drawings, are of a somewhat oval form so that thehammers shall strike the gongs properly, notwithstanding the fact thatthe hammers are moved by the cams 2", 7". It is obvious that instead ofthe gongs shown ordinary circular gongs or bells may be used. In thiscase, however, it is preferable to arrange the hammers so that theirposition relatively to the bells do not alter, the rods 9 Its beingadapted to slide through sockets on the hammer-rods and the levers g,71. fixed to the rods 9 Its so as to move therewith under the action ofthe cams.

Having now particularly described and as certained the nature of thesaid invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, it isdeclared that what is claimed is- 1. In combination with the clockmechanism an arbor driven thereby, carrying a ratchet wheel, a strikingwheel mounted on the arbor carrying a pawl engaging the ratchet wheel, aweighted lever for causing the disengagement of the pawl and ratchet,and means operated by the clock mechanism for causing said pawl toengage the ratchet to strike the hour, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the clock mechanism, an arbor driven therebycarrying a ratchet wheel, a striking wheel mounted on the arbor having apawl engaging the ratchet wheel, a weighted lever for holding the pawlnormally out of engagement with the ratchet, means operated by the clockmechanism for lifting the weighted lever to permit the pawl to engagethe ratchet, and a manually operated lever for independently lifting theweighted lever, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the clock mechanism, an arbor driven therebycarrying a ratchet wheel, a striking wheel mounted on the arbor having apawl for engaging said ratchet, a weighted lever for holding the pawlnormally out of engagement with the ratchet, a series of leverscontrolled by the clock mechanism for raising the weighted lever torelease the pawl to strike the hour, and a hand lever movable in onedirection to lock said levers and prevent the striking of the clock andin the opposite direction to positively operate the pawl and cause theclock to repeat, substantially as described.

at. In a striking mechanism for clocks the combination of a strikingwheel having a graduated series of pins on one side for striking thehours and a second graduated series of pins on the other side forstriking the quarters, levers in connection with the gonghammers adaptedto be operated by the said pins, and two cams, one fixed upon the sleevedisengaged from the ratchet wheel on the arbor carrying the saidstriking Wheel, of a series of levers such as l,m,1z operated by 15 adisk carrying pins, substantially as described.

EPIMACO OLIYIERI CACCIALUPI. Witnesses:

G. F. REDFERN,

Of the firm of G. F. Redfem d2 00., Patent Agents, 4- South Street,Finsbury, London, England.

A. ALNUTT.

